


Love Alters Not

by Dolimir



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: M/M, challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 07:37:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/795534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dolimir/pseuds/Dolimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A reflective Blair on his birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Alters Not

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: _The Sentinel_ is owned etc. by Pet Fly, Inc. These pages and the stories on them are not meant to infringe on, nor are they endorsed by, Pet Fly, Inc. and Paramount. 
> 
> My thanks go to Lola who looked this puppy over even though she's in the midst of a move. 
> 
> This story was written as a giftfic for a certain someone who just celebrated her birthday. A challenge was sent out and we only had hours to write (I still contend the Geneva Convention gives us three days as opposed to hours).
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*

Blair got out of the shower surrounded by billows of steam, grabbed a plush body towel and wrapped it around his waist. He scratched his chin and knew he was going to have to shave, but didn't think he had the courage to wipe the mirror enough to watch his reflection. 

His old reflection. 

His fifty-one year old reflection. 

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 

Why was fifty-one bothering him so much? He shook his head and grinned. He knew exactly why. 

Because now he was older than fifty. 

Everyone had been amazed at how well he had handled fifty. Simon had been convinced he was going to have a nervous breakdown last year, but he had fooled them all. He had laughed and joked and had given as good as he had got. His birthday bash had been huge. Students. Faculty. Police. Fire Department. Hell, even the mayor made an appearance. Anyone who was anybody had shown up to see the golden boy officially turn old. Even Eli, ninety years old and in a wheel chair, had proclaimed he wouldn't have missed it for the world. 

But fifty-one. 

Nervously licking his lips once, he picked up a washcloth and wiped the mirror. Raising his eyes, he took a serious look at the man reflected back at him. For a moment, he could almost see the long-haired twenty-five year old he had been when he had first stood in this exact spot; but now, there stood an older man, a man with eyes still as blue, but with shorter hair, streaked with gray. Wrinkles gathered at his eyes. He had been upset when he first noticed them, but Jim had gently kissed his temple and called them laugh lines. He liked the idea of laugh lines, and had let his vanity go, knowing that he would always be beautiful to Jim. 

Who was the man looking back at him? 

A respected professor? 

A noted anthropologist? 

A consultant to the Cascade Police? 

Yes, he was all those things. 

He had achieved everything he had set out to do. 

But the role he most cherished was guide. He was still Jim's guide. They had been through so many things over the years, but their faith in each other had never wavered, not after their first stumble, the stumble that almost tore them asunder, not since Alex. 

If he were to die today, he would be content with the words "Beloved of James Ellison" written on his plaque. 

He sighed and shook his head. Fifty-one and already thinking about death. Jim would have a fit. Of course, Jim made sixty-two look good. The man was still rock solid, still sharp as a tack, and still the sexiest thing Blair had ever laid eyes on. 

Blair quickly shaved and dried off, pulling on an old pair of blue jeans and a light blue Henley. 

"I was about to call Search and Rescue," an amused voice called out as he opened the bathroom door. 

"Sorry," he grinned. "I just can't seem to get started this morning. Of course, that might have something to do with a certain someone keeping me up all night." Blair closed the distance between them and stood on his toes to lightly brush his lips over Jim's. "What's for breakfast?" 

"Frittatas." 

"Frittatas? I'm impressed." 

"Don't be. They're nothing more than yuppie eggs." 

Blair laughed, curling one arm around Jim's waist and laying his head on Jim's back. Jim fussed a little more over the eggs, then turned and tightly wrapped Blair in his arms. "Happy Birthday, lover," he murmured beside Blair's ear. 

"Thank you, babe," Blair smiled, squeezing the older man tighter, reveling in the warm, solid embrace. "Jim?" 

"Hmm?" the sentinel hummed. 

"It's just you and me today, right?" 

Jim pulled back slightly and looked down into his eyes. "Yeah, babe. It's just going to be you and me today. I remember thirty-one... and forty-one." 

Blair shook his head in amused wonderment. "How long has it been since I said I love you?" 

Jim made a big show of looking at the clock. "Seventy-three minutes." 

"I do, you know?" 

"I know. Right back at ya." 

"So what's the plan for the day?" 

"It's up to you, Chief. The day is totally yours." 

"I think I'd like a nice long walk on the beach. Maybe a picnic lunch." 

"Sounds perfect." Jim disengaged his arms and gently pushed Blair toward the table. "Now park that gorgeous rear at the table and let me serve you." 

"Jim, you don't..." 

"Ah ah." Jim cut him off by waving a spatula. 

Blair grinned, then moved obediently toward the table. Jim loved to spoil him, though he rarely allowed it. But today, on his fifty-first birthday, he figured what the heck. 

* * *

Blair sat back on the blanket covered rock and watched the sea gulls dance in the wind currents over the foamy blue-green ocean. 

"A penny for your thoughts," Jim said quietly, by his side. 

Blair leaned against his sentinel. "I was twenty-five when I met you," he responded just as quiet. 

"It seems like a lifetime ago." 

"It was." Blair smiled. "Do you realize that I've known you now, officially, for over half my life." 

Jim quirked an eyebrow. "Really?" 

"Really." 

"Wow." 

"Yeah. That's what I was thinking." 

"Wow," Jim repeated. 

"You've been my first steady relationship. My alpha and omega. My rock and my inspiration." 

Jim nuzzled his ear, then pulled back slightly and frowned. "I missed your first birthday." 

"Would you get over that already?" Blair laughed in exasperation. "You've more than made up for it since then." 

"But-" 

"Jim," Blair said quietly, stopping his sentinel's protest by laying his fingers over the older man's lips. He closed his eyes and moaned softly as Jim gently sucked on his fingers. Smiling, he slowly pulled his fingers out and laid his head on Jim's lap. 

"So, how are we holding up, beloved?" Jim asked, barely above a whisper. Blair felt his heart warm, despite the light cool breeze blowing around them. Jim rarely used that particular pet name and never in public. It was one saved for special occasions.. such as fifty-first birthdays. 

"You may think me strange...When now I think you can behold such sights, and keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, when mine is blanch'd with fear." 

"What are you frightened of, baby?" 

Blair rolled onto his back, keeping his head in Jim's lap as he looked up into the older man's face. "Our time together is winding down." 

Jim frowned. 

"I'm not saying any time soon, Jim. I'm just saying as each day passes, our time grows shorter and I hate that. I hate that we're slowing down. Well, that I'm slowing down. You, I think will go on forever." 

Jim ran his fingers over Blair's scalp. "That's because I've been the tortoise, slow and steady and you've been the Energizer Bunny." 

Blair chuckled. "I should have slowed down more, taken time to appreciate the things around me." 

Jim shook his head. "No, beloved. You've lived life to the fullest. You've lived lifetimes in fifty-one years, and what's more, you've made me live them right beside you." Jim's fingers gently cupped Blair's chin and languidly moved down his chest. "Enjoy our time left, not like we're missing out on something, but that we're savoring what we have." 

"When did you get to be so wise?" Blair asked, his fingers moving lightly up and down Jim's arm. 

"I've always been wise, Professor. I was wise enough to hold on to you, wasn't I?" 

Scrambling into a sitting position, Blair looked over at Jim. "If you had a chance, would you do it all over again, Jim? Would you take on a hyper-active grad student, who never knew when to quit?" 

Blair watched as Jim frowned for just a moment, but his light blue eyes softened with love as he took Blair's hand in his and whispered, 

  
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds  
Admit impediments. Love is not love  
Which alters when it alteration finds  
Or bends with the remover to remove.  
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark.  
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;  
It is the star to every wandering bark,  
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.  
Love's not Time's fool, through rosy lips and cheeks  
Within his bending sickle's compass come;  
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,  
But bears it out even to the edge of doom  
If this be error and upon me proved.  
I have never writ, nor no man ever loved."

Blair swallowed hard, then leaned forward, closing his eyes as Jim wrapped him tightly in his arms. "Yeah, I think given the choice, I'd do it all again," Jim said softly.

"I love you, Jim." 

"Damn straight you do. Do you have any idea how long it took me to memorize that damn thing?" Jim teased, squeezing Blair tight for a moment. 

Blair heard his own breath turn ragged, his heart bursting with love for this man. 

Jim leaned back and cupped Blair's chin, raising it until Blair opened his eyes. "Come, grow old with me, Blair. The best is yet to be." 

Blair nodded. "Yes," he mouthed silently. 

"Forever?" Jim asked, with a smile. 

"For eternity." 

"See? Fifty-one's not so bad at all," Jim said, his lips teasing Blair's open. 

And as he accepted the sweet warmth of Jim's love, Blair realized...fifty-one really wasn't that bad after all. Not if he had Jim by his side. 

\--End-- 

  * Apologies go to Shakespeare (Sonnet CXVI and MacBeth) and Robert Browning 



* * *


End file.
